Wael Shawky in his Cabaret Crusades skillfully juxtaposes historical narrative with the childish world of puppetry—seriousness with naivety, fear with humor, horror with entertainment—to focus on events crucial to the development of an Arab identity. While prior to the Crusades different groups coexisted more or less peacefully, the trauma of the European invasions shaped today's familiar dichotomies—East and West, Christianity and Islam, Shi’ism and Sunni’ism. At first sight a history lesson for children, the project ultimately raises important questions about the historicity of identity and consequently the role of history itself.
Reviews
If you don't like this, we can't be friends.
It's complicated... I really like the directing, acting and writing but, there are issues with the way it's shot that I just can't deny. As much as I love the storytelling and the fantastic performance but, there are also certain scenes that didn't need to exist.
This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.
The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.
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